AFTER preserved sharks and unmade beds, Channel 4 is leading a revival of figurative art by broadcasting life drawing classes featuring nude models on daytime television.

The new series will provide a counterbalance to the brash Britart movement popularised by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, but is likely to cause controversy among traditionalists by showing full-frontal male and female nudity well before the 9pm watershed.

Viewers will be able to sketch models from home, while an expert will appear in the corner of the screen during each programme to give technical advice. The five-part series, called Life Class: Today’s Nude, will be broadcast on consecutive days in July, before 6pm.

“Because it’s educational and nonsexualised nudity, Channel 4 didn’t have any concerns with it at all,” said Alan Kane, the artist who had the idea for the show, which is produced by Artangel.

Although best known for his conceptual work, Kane said he was inspired to become an artist by life drawing and mourned the art form’s diminished popularity. “It has definitely come off the agenda at art school,” he said.

Humphrey Ocean, a member of the Royal Academy and one of five tutors taking part in the series, said it would help demystify the act of drawing.

Although some art schools no longer require students to attend life drawing classes, Ocean, a painter, dismissed the idea that Britart stars such as Hirst - best known for his animals preserved in formaldehyde - were not interested in drawing.

“Damien can draw,” said Ocean. “You can tell that by looking at the shark. Everybody talks about the shark; nobody looks at the proportions of the tank and how beautiful it is. He designed it; that’s drawing.” Emin, the artist shortlisted for the Turner prize for showing her unmade bed, attended life drawing classes for seven years and was also a nude model.

John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-UK, a viewing standards pressure group, claimed Channel 4 had “an obsession with sex and nudity”.

However, John Whittingdale, the Tory chairman of the Commons culture select committee, said that, in principle, he would not object to nude life drawing classes before 9pm if they were in an “educational context” and avoided “gratuitous titillation”.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010